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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 72, 01-04-12Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 72, 12 April 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT OPTIMISTIC AFTER KEY WEST TALKSReturning to Yerevan late on 11 April, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said that last week's talks in Key West with his Azerbaijani counterpart Heidar Aliev and the three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen were "hard but constructive," Reuters and RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He added that by meeting separately with the two presidents, the co-chairs chose "the right work style at the right moment." Kocharian said he believes that the new peace proposal that the co-chairmen are now working on will be based on the "package" principle, meaning that it will simultaneously resolve all contentious issues. He also predicted that it will respect the three key points on which Yerevan insists: that the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should not be vertically subordinated to Baku, together with concrete security guarantees for the disputed enclave and an overland link between the NKR and Armenia. Kocharian dodged questions on when NKR representatives might join the peace talks and whether the possibility of a territorial exchange between Armenia and Azerbaijan was discussed in Key West, according to Noyan Tapan. LF[02] ARMENIA, RUSSIA REACH AGREEMENT ON GAS DEBTSThe Armenian government has reached agreement with the Gazprom subsidiary ITERA on rescheduling Yerevan's $11 million debt for natural-gas supplies, Armenian Energy Minister Karen Galustian told journalists in Yerevan on 11 April. He said that senior ITERA officials will come to Yerevan on 25 April to finalize that agreement, which will allow for gas supplies to be restored to their normal level, RFE/RL's bureau in the Armenian capital reported. Russia recently cut gas supplies to Armenia in retaliation for the Armenian government's failure to meet deadlines for earlier debt repayments. Galustian also said Moscow is no longer pushing to acquire a 50 percent stake in Armenia's Medzamor nuclear power station in return for writing off most of the country's $120 million debt (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 April 2001). LF[03] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION CALLS FOR 'TRANSPARENCY' OF KARABAKH TALKSMeeting in Baku on 11 April, the reformist Democratic Congress urged the Azerbaijani leadership to guarantee the "transparency" of ongoing talks on resolving the Karabakh conflict, Turan reported. The Democratic Congress also proposed convening a mass rally under the slogan "Azerbaijan Cannot Do Without Karabakh" prior to the next round of talks between Kocharian and Aliev, which are scheduled to take place in Geneva in June. LF[04] ABKHAZIA CLAIMS PROOF THAT GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT ABETS GUERRILLASRaul Khajimba, who heads the Security Service of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia, told journalists in Sukhum on 11 April that two Georgian Interior Ministry personnel were killed and three more, including a police major, taken prisoner during a clash on 8 April near the village of Achigvara in Gali Raion between Abkhaz security forces and Georgian guerrillas, Caucasus Press reported. He showed journalists the official identity papers and weapons confiscated from the Georgian police officers in question. LF[05] MORE RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT WITHDRAWN FROM GEORGIAThe first of two final consignments of field and medical equipment and military vehicles from the Russian military base at Vaziani near Tbilisi was loaded on to a train on 11 April for transportation to the port of Batumi, Russian agencies reported. The final shipment will depart on 24 April. Moscow agreed in November 1999 to vacate the Vaziani base by 1 July 2001. LF[06] KAZAKHSTAN UNVEILS NEW GAS PROJECTKazakhstan's first deputy prime minister, Daniyal Akhmetov, told journalists in Astana on 11 April that the Amangeldy and neighboring Airykty gas deposits in the Djambyl Oblast of southern Kazakhstan contain estimated reserves of 22-25 billion cubic meters, sufficient for 12 to 13- years production, Interfax and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Akhmetov said the Kazakh government plans to invest over $142 million in developing the deposit and is ready to create a joint venture with a foreign investor to do so. He said once developments gets underway in early 2003, the Amangeldy field could supply the southern oblasts of Kazakhstan, which currently import gas from neighboring Uzbekistan, with 600 million cubic meters of gas per year. A senior executive of U.S. Citibank told Interfax in Astana the same day that the bank is conducting talks with KazTransGas, the Kazakh company that will develop Amangeldy, with a view to investing in the project. LF[07] KAZAKHSTAN BEGINS REINFORCING BORDER WITH TURKMENISTANHusain Beriqaliev, who heads Kazakhstan's state border service, told journalists in Almaty on 10 April that 32 border guards have been detailed to man the first of five border posts to be set up this year along Kazakhstan's 400-kilometer frontier with Turkmenistan, Interfax and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The first post is located on the Mangyshlak peninsula at a location that Beriqaliev described as one of the most "difficult" sectors on Kazakhstan's entire border. The number of border guards manning it will later be increased to 70. In addition, Beriqaliev said, part of an air squadron will be sent to Aqtau on 12 April "to defend Kazakhstan's economic interests in the Caspian." LF[08] EU TO ALLOCATE FUNDS TO COMBAT DRUG SMUGGLING IN CENTRAL ASIAThe EU plans to allocate 3 million euros ($2.66 million) to fund a two-year program to prevent the transport of drugs to Western Europe via Central Asia, a European Commission member told journalists in Almaty on 11 April, according to Interfax. The program calls for closer cooperation between the interior ministries of the five Central Asian states and intensified controls in the cities of Almaty, Ashgabat, Bishkek, and Tashkent, along with the seaports of Turkmenbashi, Aktau and Atyrau. LF[09] TAJIK FOREIGN MINISTER DENIES UZBEK MILITANT PRESENCE...Tajikistan's foreign minister, Talbak Nazarov, told journalists in Bishkek on 11 April following a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Muratbek Imanaliev that there are no members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on Tajik territory, ITAR-TASS and RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. "They are all on the other side of the Pyanj" river that marks the frontier between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Nazarov added. Kyrgyz officials have repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that IMU fighters have entered Tajikistan and are gathered on the border ready to launch a new incursion into southern Kyrgyzstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 and 29 March 2001). LF[10] ...AS KYRGYZ PARLIAMENT DEPUTY CLAIMS ISLAMIC THREAT 'EXAGGERATED'General Ismail Isakov, who heads the Kyrgyz parliament's Committee on Defense and Security Issues, told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 11 April that he thinks the danger of a new incursion by Islamic militants into Kyrgyzstan is exaggerated. Specifically, he rejected recent estimates by Defense Minister Esen Topoev that some 2,000-2,500 Islamic militants are gathered in Tajikistan. He said it is more likely that there are several such groups of militants numbering no more than 20-30 each. Isakov also said that the debate in the Legislative Assembly (the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament) on last year's fighting ended on 11 April by assessing the Kyrgyz government's actions in response to that invasion as adequate. But the assembly proposed raising the wages of Interior Ministry personnel to bring them in line with those of Defense and Security Ministry officials. Isakov said that some Interior Ministry officials are currently paid only 700 soms ($14) per month while their counterparts in the Defense and Security ministries receive three times that amount. LF[11] SUSPECTED KILLERS OF TAJIK OFFICIAL ARRESTEDPolice in Dushanbe have apprehended an undisclosed number of people suspected of the 11 April killing of First Deputy Interior Minister Habib Sanginov, Russian agencies reported on 12 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 April 2001). Interfax on 11 April quoted an unidentified Tajik Security Ministry official as saying that police have mock-up portraits of the suspected assassins, whose number is variously rumored at between three and eight. President Imomali Rakhmonov has taken personal charge of the investigation into the killing, according to "Vremya novostei" on 12 April. LF[12] DISSIDENT COMMITTED TO PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN UZBEKISTANIn a move described as "a throwback to the ugliest Soviet repression against the dissident movement of the 1970s," the Uzbek authorities incarcerated Elena Urlaeva, a member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, in a locked ward at Tashkent's main psychiatric hospital on 7 April, according to a 12 April Human Rights Watch press release. A physician who examined Urlaeva on 8 April pronounced her mentally sound. Urlaev was detained while leaving her home in Tashkent the previous day. She had criticized the Uzbek government at a seminar in Warsaw last fall organized by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and has twice been detained by police since the beginning of this year. LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] POWELL PLEDGES U.S. COMMITMENT TO BALKANSU.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters at a meeting of the six- nation Contact Group in Paris on 11 April that the U.S. remains politically and militarily committed to an active role in the Balkans (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 April 2001). He said: "We do intend to remain engaged politically in the Balkans." Referring to Washington's military role in stabilizing the troubled region, Powell added that "there is no end point [to the U.S. commitment]... We are looking for opportunities to draw down [the size of the American force in the region] but not for opportunities to bail out," AP reported. PM[14] CONTACT GROUP CALLS FOR SERBIAN-MONTENEGRIN DIALOGUE, ELECTIONS IN KOSOVAThe foreign ministers of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Russia agreed in Paris on 11 April to support a continued dialogue between Serbia and Montenegro as well as a "democratic Montenegro in the framework of a democratic Yugoslavia," the private Beta news agency reported. The ministers pledged political, economic, and financial assistance to Podgorica to achieve that end. They noted that elections in Kosova this year will be "the key factor" for promoting democracy in Kosova and stability in the region. The ministers urged KFOR and the UN civilian administration in Kosova to take "decisive action against extremists" and called on the Macedonian authorities to "continue to show restraint in response to terrorist attacks." The six diplomats hailed progress toward democracy in Croatia and Yugoslavia and expressed support for SFOR and the representatives of the international community in their dealings with Herzegovinian Croat hard-liners. PM[15] MAJOR BALKAN DIPLOMATIC GATHERING IN SKOPJEA group of Balkan and other officials are slated to meet on 12 April in Skopje to discuss the situation in Macedonia and the entire region. Macedonian Foreign Minister Srdjan Kerim says foreign ministers from Yugoslavia, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria are due to attend. Also taking part will be U.S. Secretary of State Powell and European Union foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana, RFE/RL reported. NCA/PM[16] REGIONAL TRANSPORT AGREEMENT SIGNED IN SKOPJERepresentatives of leading transportation companies from Macedonia, Croatia, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Slovenia signed a protocol in Skopje on 11 April in which they called for a unified transportation policy in the region, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. They called for simplified customs procedures and other measures aimed at reducing the costs and time involved with transportation in the region. PM[17] ROW OVER ALBANIAN CENSUSA Macedonian government spokesman said in Skopje on 11 April that the Albanian authorities are wrong to reject demands by the Greek and Macedonian minorities for including questions on religion and national origin on forms for the census that got under way on 1 April, dpa reported. The Greek minority is planning to boycott the census, AP reported from Tirana on 12 April. Greek minority spokesmen note that Albania will not extend the same rights to its minorities as those it demands that Macedonia show toward its ethnic Albanians. Prime Minister Ilir Meta said "the government is ready to make improvements at a later stage, in accordance with international criteria." Census officials said that the purpose of the survey is to compile economic and social data but did not give a clear reason as to why questions about ethnicity and religion are not included. PM[18] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT IN SLOW BATTLE AGAINST ILLEGAL WEAPONSA Public Order Ministry spokesman said in Tirana on 12 April that the authorities have been able to collect only 160,000 out of an estimated 500, 000 illegal weapons across the country. He added that some 120,000 weapons have probably been smuggled abroad since mobs looted government arsenals in the wake of the spring 1997 collapse of a pyramid investment system. The government has extended the deadline for completing the collection program from August 2000 to August 2002, dpa said. A special 250-strong police task force is in charge of the effort. PM[19] KFOR COMMANDER PLEDGES 'ROBUST RESPONSE' AFTER RUSSIAN IS KILLEDNorwegian General Thorstein Skiaker, who is KFOR's new commander, said in Prishtina on 12 April that the Russian soldier killed by an unidentified gunman the previous day was the first KFOR soldier to die from hostile gunfire, Reuters reported. Skiaker promised that "KFOR will not be distracted from its mission" and that there will be an unspecified "appropriate, robust, and proportionate response." The incident took place on the border with the Medvedja area of southern Serbia. Local ethnic Albanian guerrilla spokesman Sejdullah Kadriu said that he knows nothing of the incident. He added, however, that the area is "very tense because the deployment of Yugoslav forces in villages in the Medvedja and Vranje municipalities is supposed to start [soon]." Ethnic Albanian leaders in Presevo and Kosova have previously warned that an increased Yugoslav military presence in the area will have a destabilizing effect. PM[20] SERBIA'S MILOSEVIC HOSPITALIZEDFormer Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was taken from jail to a hospital in Belgrade on 11 April after complaining of chest pains. Toma Fila, who is his lawyer, said "there were heart problems that necessitated his transfer to the military hospital in Belgrade. It was nothing too dramatic." But Milosevic aide and Socialist Party leader Branislav Ivkovic stressed that "like any other innocent man who is unjustly accused, the injustice strikes directly at the heart" of Milosevic, AP reported. It is not clear whether Milosevic's backers would consent to his being transferred to a world-class medical facility in, for example, the Netherlands. In The Hague, a spokesman for the war crimes tribunal said on 11 April that Milosevic must be sent to The Hague for trial at the first opportunity, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM[21] SERBIAN REFUGEE TALLYPreliminary results of a new survey show that there are some 420,000 refugees from Bosnia or Croatia in Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 11 April. Some 360,000 of them have formal refugee status. The rest have either become Yugoslav citizens, are Yugoslav army personnel from former Yugoslav republics, or have not requested any special status. PM[22] BOSNIAN CROAT TENSIONS CONTINUEDefense Minister Mijo Anic told the federal parliament on 11 April that the hard-liners responsible for the recent riots in Herzegovina are now concentrating their activities in Orasje in the northern Bosnian Posavina region, AP reported. There is a SFOR barracks in the town. The local Croatian commander, Tomo Knezevic, unexpectedly switched sides from the government to the hard-liners. Some media reports suggested that hard- liners put him and other Croatian officers in the Bosnian army under personal pressure by threatening their families. Anic said, however, that he still counts on the support of most Croats in the military, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. He added that he is considering starting legal proceedings against those he regards as responsible for causing trouble within the military. PM[23] SLOVENIAN AND CROATIAN LEADERS FAIL TO SOLVE DISPUTESMeeting in Otocec na Krki on 11 April, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek and his Croatian counterpart Ivica Racan failed to agree on solutions for several problems that have bedeviled bilateral relations since gaining independence in 1991. The issues include Slovenia's maritime border in the Gulf of Piran; the fate of Croatian deposits in Slovenia's Ljubljanska Banka; and a division of the costs, responsibilities, and benefits involving the nuclear facility at Krsko, Slovenia. The two men pledged to "intensify" the work of expert commissions dealing with the individual issues. They said that they might then seek international arbitration if their experts cannot agree. Racan returned to Drnovsek an intelligence-gathering van that Croatian authorities captured on Croatian territory in 1998. But Slovenian customs officials seized the vehicle, saying that it cannot legally enter the country because it has no license plates, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM[24] CROATIAN LOCAL ELECTION DATE SETRacan and the government agreed on 12 April that local elections will take place on 20 May, dpa reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 April 2001). The vote is expected to lead to a shake-up in both the cabinet and the governing coalition. PM[25] ROMANIAN LAW ON STATE SECRETS DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONALThe Romanian Constitutional Court decided on 11 April that the recently adopted Law on State Secrets is unconstitutional, Mediafax reported. The court ruled that the law was adopted after voting and mediation procedures between the two chambers of parliament were breached. The law was contested on 14 March by 62 deputies from opposition parties. President Ion Iliescu said on 5 April that he wants to send the controversial law back to the legislature, as he believes it must be "correlated" with pending legislation on free access to information. Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department expressed concerns about the possible "abusive limitation of the right to free access to information" and about infringements of "the right to privacy" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 April 2001). The court also decided to postpone a decision on the Law on Local Public Administration, which has been contested by 74 deputies, until 19 April. ZsM[26] BANCA AGRICOLA SALE APPROVEDThe Romanian government approved the selling of Banca Agricola on 11 April, Mediafax reported. The government approved the privatization contract by which control of the bank would be handed over to a partnership between the Romanian-American Investment Fund and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria. The contract is to be ratified on 20 April. ZsM[27] OSCE, COUNCIL OF EUROPE LEADERS CALL ON RUSSIA TO WITHDRAW TRANSDNIESTER TROOPSThe leaders of the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and their parliamentary assemblies called on Russia during an 11 April meeting in Bucharest to meet the deadline to evacuate its heavy weapons from the Transdniester region by the end of 2001, Mediafax reported. Mircea Geoana, who currently holds the OSCE chair, and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Chairman Adrian Severin said Russia should meet its commitments set by the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit. Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer added that the withdrawal of the Russian army's 14th division is an international obligation assumed by Russia toward the Council of Europe as well. ZsM[28] FORMER BULGARIAN KING BEGINS ELECTION CAMPAIGN...King Simeon II opened his election campaign on 11 April with a visit to the Danube town of Russe, Reuters reported. King Simeon, who heads the new political party the National Movement for Simeon II, was met by a few thousand people chanting his name and showering him with flowers as he and his wife Margarita went to the town hall for a meeting with city officials. The king said he is "not a magician" but that with the support of the people he could achieve many things, the daily "Monitor" reported. He added that "to me, the formula of political consensus is a cherished ideal." King Simeon II previously promised that his party would fight corruption and significantly raise living standards within 800 days if it came to power. Opinion polls show the king's party receiving as much as 50 percent support from prospective voters. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 17 June. PB[29] ...AS PRESIDENT COMMENTS ON MONARCH'S ENTRY INTO POLITICSBulgarian President Petar Stoyanov said on 11 April that he welcomes the addition of King Simeon II's party into the country's political scene, "Monitor" reported. Stoyanov said that as president he is "glad to see the emergence of any new party or movement that pledges to work for the welfare of Bulgaria. Evidently Bulgarian political life needed fresh ideas and new faces." Asked his thoughts on Bulgaria holding a referendum on reestablishing the monarchy, Stoyanov said he is not convinced that society is interested in the issue. PB[C] END NOTE[30] KEY WEST: SEEKING RESOLUTION OR SIDELINING RUSSIA?By Richard GiragosianIn a symbolic gesture marking the conclusion of the latest round of mediation seeking a negotiated resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, U.S. President George Bush welcomed the Armenian and Azerbaijan presidents in separate White House meetings on 9 April. Those meetings followed an intensive round of talks in Key West, Florida, brokered by the representatives of the three co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) special working group on the Karabakh conflict, the "Minsk Group." Led by Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov, and French Ambassador Jean-Jacques Gaillarde, the four-day round of talks was officially characterized as "a bold and significant step forward." The negotiations are slated to reconvene in Geneva to study a new comprehensive OSCE peace plan in June with the possible inclusion of representatives from the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic. The OSCE talks, although following a series of fifteen direct meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, were the first time that the Minsk Group officials met with the Armenians and Azerbaijanis at the same time. The thrust of the Key West talks centered on the concept of "conflict economics," focusing on the economics of the region as both promise and peril. The economic incentives are based on a planned World Bank assessment to provide the framework for an international donors' conference to finance regional reconstruction and promote economic reintegration once a settlement has been reached. This emphasis on the economics of the conflict also reflects subtle developments in the region. These subtle changes follow a shift in domestic pressures from political to economic challenges in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic itself. The most visible change in the region is the recent Turkish economic crisis. The severe economic downturn in Turkey has abruptly deflated Washington's long-standing advocacy of the proposed Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, seriously questioning the Turkish ability to abide by its pledge to meet additional costs if the initial $2.5 billion estimate proves too low. This development has also strengthened the appeal of the promises of Western regional reconstruction and assistance as incentives for settlement. These developments also demonstrate the futility of relying on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline a major factor for regional stability and integration, a futility ignored by the Clinton Administration for some time. For Armenia, the most serious challenges facing President Robert Kocharian are not political, but economic. These economic challenges are both internal, as seen by the serious exodus of Armenian citizens seeking employment abroad in recent years, and external, as demonstrated by the crippling blockade of the landlocked country by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Having weathered several domestic political crises, Kocharian must now overcome Armenia's economic vulnerability. Realizing this, Kocharian has already demonstrated both a willingness for dialogue, evidenced by his meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart, and a willingness to negotiate, as seen by his recent selective leaking of peace plan details to prepare Armenian public opinion for a possible resolution. In Azerbaijan, the key to stability increasingly lies with the economics of conflict resolution. And stability is essential to allow President Heidar Aliev to install his son Ilham as his successor. Overcoming the population's general frustration with its failure to benefit from the hoped- for wealth generated by Caspian oil will be vital to ensuring a degree of transitional stability and legitimacy. The concentration of the oil profits in the hands of a small political elite centered around the president has only exacerbated the divide between the Azerbaijani elite and society, further undermining the Aliev regime. Aliev has negated domestic political challenges by deftly challenging the opposition to propose their own alternatives for resolving the Karabakh conflict. And when the opposition could offer no more than the tired rhetoric of war, Aliev effectively dislodged them from the politically comfortable position of opposition without proposition. But marginalizing the political opposition does not meet the challenges posed by the mounting economic disparities, corruption and increasing social protest in the country. Both the recent French initiative, as seen by the Paris talks in early March, and now Washington's Key West talks, represent an attempt to counter the last three months of Russian activity in the Transcaucasus. The state visits to Azerbaijan and Iran by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the planned summit meeting on the division of the Caspian Sea, and Moscow's coercive pressure on Georgia are all aspects of the new assertive Russian approach to the region. The revamping of Moscow's strategic policy regarding the Transcaucasus has spurred the U.S. to hurriedly counter the Russian diplomatic offensive. Following an unprecedented meeting in late March with Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov's foreign minister, Ilyas Akhmadov, the Bush team has demonstrated a subtle, but significant, policy shift placing the Transcaucasus within the overall rubric of U.S.-Russian relations. Seen in this light, the Key West model represents a U.S. attempt to garner much more than a resolution to the protracted, yet contained, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Key West talks actually signal an ambitious U.S. effort to secure regional dominance to overcome the Caspian puzzle of ports and pipelines. Closing the Key West talks with the announcement that it will convey the results of the talks to non-OSCE member Iran, "an important player in the region," the U.S. is seeking to outflank Russia by extending an opening to Iran. Given Iran's role in the region, and its strategic importance as the only regional power bordering Armenia, Azerbaijan, and territories controlled by the Karabakh armed forces, this may well signal a more comprehensive initiative to engage Iran. Such a move would also show support for Iran's reformist president prior to upcoming elections and could allow Washington to utilize Iran, which borders both the Caspian and the Persian Gulf, as an export route for Caspian oil, thereby bypassing Russian territory. Richard Giragosian is the editor of the monthly newsletter "TransCaucasus: A Chronology." 12-04-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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